Thursday, June 20, 2013

The jousting tournament which will occur as part of the "Times & Epochs" history festival Starts tomorrow, Friday, June 21 and lasts through Sunday, June 23. The European jousters arrived in Moscow several days ago and have had a chance to meet and practice with the horses that they will be riding.

The European jousters for the Tournament are:

Arne Koets
Arne is a 32 year old jouster from Buckeburg, Germany. He is a very highly regarded competitive jouster who is probably best known for organizing the prestigious "Grand Tournament of Sankt Wendel". That tournament inspired the organizers of the "Times & Epochs" festival to include a jousting tournament as part of their event. His coat of arms is a black cage on a silver field, a gold griffin with red tongue, claws and eyes.

Joram van Essen
Joram is a 38 year old jouster from Benshkhop, Netherlands. Not only is he a respected jouster, he also creates hand made reconstructions of historically accurate jousting saddles. His company is called Historic Saddles, and his saddles were used by most of the competitors in the prestigious "Grand Tournament of Sankt Wendel", which he also happened to win. His coat of arms is a silver chevron and three golden towers on a red field.

Petter Ellingsen
Petter is a 38 year old from Oslo, Norway. Petter has participated in over 350 shows and competitions worldwide. He has won tournament championships in 2009, 2010 and 2012, and he was one of the participants in the so very prestigious "Grand Tournament of Sankt Wendel". For the "Times & Epochs" jousting tournament, he will be competing in brand new set of armour created by Lillund Jenszen, one of the world's best armourers. His coat of arms is a gold reared lion with a silver sword in his paws on a blue field.

The Russian jousters for the tournament are:

Alexei "Budimir" Malinin
Alexei is a 29 year old from St. Petersburg, Russia. Alexei is considered a pleasant conversationalist, a true companion in a fierce fight and a cheerful companion in more friendly endeavors. He is generally a favorite with female fans, so it will be interesting to see how the Court of Ladies at the "Times & Epochs" jousting tournament reacts to him. His coat of arms is a white swan facing left on a red field.

Andrey "Morgan" Kamin
Andrey is a 25 year old from St. Petersburg, Russia. He is the head of the "Cavalry Brotherhood" and is one of the favorites to win this tournament. He has won a number of victories in his hometown as well as winning a tournament in the Ukraine. His coat of arms is a standing black bear facing left with red claws, holding an axe on a silver field.

Dmitry "Dusheyron" Petukhov
Dusheyron is a 25 year old from St. Petersburg, Russia. Dusheyron is the captain of the "Cavalry Brotherhood" -- one of the oldest and largest horse clubs in Russia. When the brotherhood was asked to participate in the jousting tournament, it became clear that the usual teammates would have to compete against one another. Dusheyron's coat of arms is two upright gold axes facing opposite on a blue field with white diagonal stripes on the upper right side.

Dmitry "Dietmar" Savchenko
Dietmar is a 30 year old from Moscow, Russia. Dietmar is the curator and direct organizer of the "Times & Epochs" jousting tournament. He has repeatedly won jousting competitions in Russia and is one of the prominent activists in the development of medieval equestrian martial arts. Dietmar is an expert on both military history and horse-riding history. His coat of arms is three gold crosses on a blue field.

Pavel "Paul" Kalinkov
Pavel is a 34 year old from Minsk, Belarus. He is the founder and permanent head of the "Gold Spur" club in Minsk. Pavel owns his own stable and will be riding his faithful fighting companion, Grace. He will also be wearing a new set of armour created especially for this and future tournaments. His coat of arms is a golden spur on a split field of blue and red.

Yury "Humphrey de Bohun" Bogonov
Yury is a 28 year old from Moscow, Russia. Yury is one of the least experienced competitors in the tournament, but is already a very skilled fighter. He is also invariably a crowd favorite because his smile never leaves his face whether he is winning or losing. Yury is a member of the group "Ratabor" which is the main organizer of the "Times & Epochs" festival. His coat of arms is a blue field with three diagonal white stripes on it. The central stripe bears three red roses.

While the jousters have been practicing with their horses, the workers for the festival have been busy setting up the tilt yard and lyst field for the tournament.

The tilt for the tournament (photo by Zhi Zhu/The Jousting Life)

The lyst field for the tournament (photo by Zhi Zhu/The Jousting Life)